Month: November 2018

Graded activity is a way of learning to manage chronic pain or illness by finding your baseline (the amount of activity you can do without exacerbating symptoms) and then gradually extending the difficulty, very slowly over time. The aim is to be able to do the things that matter to you without causing flare ups. … Continue reading Graded activity/pacing: progress update

I've decided to keep count of my small victories as the big ones are so few and far between. My first little win is eating a salad. It might not seem like much, but between my fussy, nauseated migraine brain and the general difficulty of organising my household chores my daytime meals have been mostly … Continue reading Small victory #1 Ate a salad

I believe that having self-compassion is essential if I'm going to live a meaningful life with chronic illness. Unfortunately I'm not very good at it. I think developing self-compassion can encourage us to take good care of ourselves, to be accepting of our limitations and appreciative of our efforts. For some of us self-compassion isn't … Continue reading CFT: Understanding my personal story

The aim of pacing is to find the approximate length of time that I can work at something without causing a flare up in my symptoms. The principles of pacing are to avoid a cycle of boom and bust and to stop before you need a break. A few months ago I worked out my … Continue reading Pacing Update

Forget there is a setback plan, try to get back to 'normal' as quickly as possible, then have half a bar of chocolate and a third of a bottle of wine because what's the point in trying to be good if you end up feeling horrible anyway? Still it's a new week, so I'm going … Continue reading How not to cope with a setback

Search for:

“It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end” –
Ursula Le Guin